


Red String of Fate

by graxpefruit



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Fluff and Angst, I'm Bad At Tagging, Lance (Voltron) Angst, M/M, Pining Lance (Voltron), Red String of Fate, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-11
Updated: 2017-09-11
Packaged: 2018-12-26 08:43:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12055380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/graxpefruit/pseuds/graxpefruit
Summary: Cold and confused, Lance wanders through life with a million questions looming over his head, and when he meets Keith, he suddenly doesn't feel alone anymore.





	Red String of Fate

For as long as he can remember, Lance was able to see the strings. Thin, blood red spider silk threads, tied to the pinkie finger of every human being he met. Some brighter than others, some faded, some frayed, some broken, but everyone had one.

He didn’t exactly understand what they meant, why they were there, and why no one understood what he was talking about when he mentioned them. That is, until one day in his second grade class, when his teacher talked about legends and folktales.

Then he understood.

_ “The legend of the red string of fate states that soulmates are connected by a red string that’s tied to their pinkies,”  _ His teacher taught, standing at the front of the class. Murmurs erupted, girls whispering about the string, boys scoffing at the idea, but little seven year old Lance McClain grew quiet as he sadly looked down at his pinkie. There was no red string to be seen. There never has been.

Eventually, he gave up on the idea, he tried forgetting, but growing up, his eyes always did end up wandering to the hand of the person he was talking to, to see their string.

Sometimes at night, his eyes wandered to his own pinkie, and sadness overtook him. At the end of the night his search history was full of searches about the legend, and any record of anyone being able to see the strings, a record of anyone not having one.

But as always, he ended up with nothing.

No one else could see the strings after all.

And as Lance grew up, he came to the sickening realization that maybe, not having a soulmate was a sick price he had to pay in order to see the strings. The price he had to pay for the gift he never wanted.

That is until one day, he was introduced to a classmate when he entered the Garrison.

“Keith Kogane,” The boy introduced himself, even Lance had to admit that he was gorgeous. Silky black hair, smooth, yet ridiculously cut in a mullet, the long ends swooping up at the base of Keith’s neck. He had eyes so dark that they reflected purple when the light hit them, and smooth skin that glowed. Lance almost couldn’t tear his eyes away, but he had too, he couldn’t help but glance at the hand he was reaching out to shake.

Keith Kogane, like Lance, did not have a red string tied to his pinkie.

But Lance didn’t know how to bring it up, he couldn’t, he didn’t know if Keith could see the strings, before the thought even processed, he was dragged away by his roommates and friends, Hunk and Pidge.

“You were really drooling over that guy, Lance,” Pidge said, adjusting his glasses further up his nose. His string was broken, the frayed end dragging along as he walked. The frayed end meant that sadly, Pidge’s soulmate had passed, gone over to the afterlife. Lance had seen it happen when his grandfather passed, and his grandmother’s string snapped when the monitor flatlined. The painful thing was that Pidge had no idea.

“Was I,” Lance smirked, “At that Mullet? No thanks.”

“Pidge isn’t kidding,” Hunk laughed, “You could barely get your own name out,”

“Please Hunk,” Lance brushed him off.

“Maybe you should talk to him a little more, get to know him,” Hunk elbowed Lance playfully and Lance smiled to himself. 

“Maybe I should,” Lance scoffed at the idea, but he wanted to talk to Keith. He really did.

Times passed and Lance grew close to his friends at the Garrison, sadly, Keith only grew farther apart. He was usually alone, but that didn’t seem to bother him. He never looked sad, or lonely, just that same stoic face every day. Lance admired him a far. 

Admiration soon evolved into envy, and that didn’t help in talking to the boy. Keith was a fighter pilot, as a matter of fact, he was the best, Lance, was nothing more than a cargo pilot, and he strived to get on Keith’s level. He tried and tried, but as he worked, he never felt like and equal to Keith, but on the legend’s level, he was. But strangely, every time Lance threw a glance at Keith, he boiled with frustration, but sometimes, Keith looked back, and Lance’s breath caught in his throat and he felt hot. Those eyes bore into him, dark and heavy, they were a weight on his chest. His heart couldn’t stop pounding.

Keith’s hand taunted him, and he scowled every time is slipped into his line of sight.

The absence of the red string was so alien to him.

Then, Keith left the Garrison.

The only other stringless pinkie he’s ever seen, slipped through his fingertips like dust being blown by the wind.

Keith’s absence made him feel empty.

Keith’s ignorance made him feel even worse.

Even in the darkest confines of space, the red strings still remained.

“Good job Team,” Shiro stood up in front of four exhausted teenagers in armor, “We might not be able to form Voltron again, but you guys really gave it your all.”

Lance groaned, stretching, and cracking his back. He was tired, everyone was, even Shiro, even though he tried his best to hide it, the bags under his eyes really don’t lie. Keith on the other hand, never gave in.

The five of them have been living in Allura’s castle maybe a few Earth days now, but there wasn’t any way to truly know. If Lance knew he’d be living on an alien planet, countless galaxies away from Earth, he would have at least brought a calender or something.

Allura was ruthless, she had good intent but she really pushed it.

“Is that really all the training you’re going to do today?” She asked, walking in the training bay, crossing her arms in disappointment, “have you even done any bonding exercises today?”

“Princess,” Shiro said with a stern look, “we are all exhausted, we can’t keep pushing on like this or we won’t stand a chance against the Galra. We need rest. We’re all new to this.”

Allura frowned, and walked off, turning sharply on her heels, shaking her head in frustration as she walked off.

Hunk was the first to get up, “I’m gonna hit the kitchens, these training robots drain me, I need to re energize,”

Pidge followed, and then Lance.

Shiro went after him, and caught up in the halls.

“Lance,” he called out, and Lance stopped. Shiro placed a hand on his shoulder, “Hunk told me a little about you and Keith, you two seem to be a little tense.”

“Do we?” Lance smiled a little, “I’m sure it’s nothing, we just have to get used to each other, I guess.”

“Apparently there was a ‘rivalry’ between you two?” Shiro questioned, “But aside from that, maybe you should talk to Keith, he can be a little distant.”

“A little is an understatement,” Lance mumbled, thinking back to all the times Lance caught Keith sitting alone, not even caring.

“Everyone is doing great with the bonding, but you and Keith might need a little more work.” Shiro said gently.

“Why are you telling me this and not Keith?” Lance asked.

“Because I know that Keith wont take charge of the situation, he doesn’t think of himself as someone who should take charge.” Shiro explained, “If you don’t want to do it for yourself, then at least do it for the sake of the universe.”

“Priorities,” Lance laughed, “Am I right?”

Shiro patted him on the back, before walking down the hallway to his room, his red string trailing behind him. Lance glanced at his own pinkie, before turning around and sprinting back down to the training bay. 

He stood near the entrance, staring at the light pouring out into the hall. He leaned against the wall and listened.

Honestly, even he had to admit that the sounds Keith made when he was fighting were kind of hot. His heavy breathing and grunting, accompanied with the clash of his bayard against enemy blades. For a moment, Lance lost himself in the sounds, as he stood outside the bay.

The words he wanted to say to Keith since he saw the absence of the red string lingered on the tip of his tongue, really, what other thing could they possibly bond about. They were opposites, the only thing they had in common was the nothing that linked them to another.

The sounds stopped. Blades were put away, and the only thing left was heavy breathing. 

That’s when Lance slipped in quietly, his footsteps soft against the silence in the area.

“Lance?” Keith saw him, standing by the door, still in his blue armor. Lance looked up the Keith, confusion lacing his expression.

There were a million questions that Lance had, assuming that Keith was the same as him, with the ability to see the strings.

Keith approached him silently, taking off his helmet. Black hair accompanied with smoldering, unrealistically purple eyes stared him down, and Lance found himself speechless.

Keith really was gorgeous, Lance couldn’t really focus on him with the recent events, his memories of classes with Keith were blurry, seeing Keith now, alone, just the two of them, sent Lance’s heart racing.

But priorities.

“Can you,” Lance’s voice felt weak, but he held up his hand, his pinkie, “see them too?”

For the first time since he was a child, he mentioned the red strings out loud, maybe not directly, but it was the only thing that came out. This was it, Lance was making a fool of himself, he could almost hear Keith’s next words.

_ “What are you talking about?” _

_ “Is this some kind of prank?” _

_ “What do you want?” _

“Yes,”

“What?” Lance blinked, so sure he misheard, “What did you say?”

“I’m assuming that you’re asking about the red strings,” Keith said, “Yes, I can see them.”

 

Next thing he knew, Lance was sitting on the floor of Keith’s bedroom, Keith, fresh out of the shower, sitting on the floor across from Lance. They sat in silence.

“It’s a little strange,” Keith smirked, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this quiet before.”

Lance didn’t reply, he didn’t know how. He just kept looking at Keith with this indescribable amazement. 

“How long,” Lance spoke up, “Have you been able to…”

“Ever since I can remember,” Keith answered, “No one ever believed me though, hence I kept it to myself.”

“Yeah,” Lance smiled, “‘Overactive imagination’, that’s what everyone called it,”

“They just thought I was crazy.” Keith’s lips tightened together into a thin line.

“Have you noticed,” Lance perked up, now his voice a little gentler, a little more comfortable, “That Hunk’s string got brighter as we flew up to space, it’s brighter now than it ever has been.”

“Shiro’s too,” Keith smiled, “I noticed that the distance between soulmates dictates how bright the string is, their soulmates must be somewhere in space.”

“Alien babes?” Lance smirked.

“There he is, that’s the Lance we’ve been missing,” Keith crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. 

Lance laughed, and Keith’s smile faded, his cheeks turned red.

“Keith,” Lance smiled, “I gotta thank you.”

“For what, exactly?” Keith raised an eyebrow.

“I don’t know really,” Lance smiled, “I guess it feels good, knowing I’m not alone.”

Bonding. Yeah, that’s a good word for it. Lance smiled to himself as he walked out of Keith’s room after timeless chatter. The door closed behind him and Lance stopped. He looked back at the door. He smiled. He smiled all the way back down on the way to his room. 

Lance fell asleep, hugging his pillow tight, his head full of that dark eyed boy that he ended up falling so deeply for, without even realizing it.

Days ended up passing, and Lance continued talking to Keith. It made him happy, and Keith didn’t seem to mind that much either. If anything Keith seemed to enjoy it as well. Lance was happy when he spent time with Keith, and the rest of the team was that they have bonded as well, but they never really asked what it was about. They wouldn’t understand anyway, but once the conversation ended, and they went their separate ways, Lance felt empty inside again. He felt alone. Soulmateless. No matter how long he spent with Keith, he wouldn’t get a soulmate, he wouldn’t find someone he could be happy with, and he just couldn’t stand it, he didn’t understand.

 

One morning, Lance was woken up to another  _ “PALADINS, THE GALRA ARE ATTACKING, WE NEED VOLTRON NOW!”  _ and he threw himself off the bed. Allura made a habit of waking up the team that way, but the only one who truly took the call seriously was Shiro. It wasn’t exactly likely that the Galra would attack everyday at the same time when everyone was asleep.

Lance got dressed and dragged his way down the main room in the castle where Shiro was already waiting with Allura and Coran, Allura, once again looked slightly peeved that only Shiro bothered to show up in armor, even Keith was tired of it at this point.

“You know Allura,” Lance said, taking his usual spot on the couch, the farthest away from from Keith, “If you keep using that fake Galra attack method to get us out of bed in the morning, when the actual Galra attack, we might think you’re bluffing.”

“Lance,” Keith said, “If the Galra actually start attacking, you’ll be hearing more than just Allura yelling at us.”

“Yeah,” Allura agreed, but also added on, “If the Galra attack, I won’t just be yelling at you, I’ll be yelling in general.”

“The missile blasts and cries of war will also be present,” Shiro added on, taking a seat next to Keith on the couch.

“Luckily, that won’t happen for a while,” Lance leaned back on the couch and stretched.

“Well,” Allura sighed, “Seems like Pidge and Hunk didn’t bother to show up, I’ll bet anything they’re in the kitchen.” She started to leave, Coran trailing closely behind her. After she left, the door stayed open, and Shiro ended up following, leaving Keith and Lance alone.

They stayed quiet for a little bit, and then Lance got up and walked over to Keith, plopping down beside him. He wanted to talk more about the strings. He wanted to talk more to Keith. He sighed, looking down at his pinkie, for maybe the millionth time.

“You seem down Lance,” Keith noticed, “Now that I think about it, you seem down a lot, especially after we finish talking. Am I doing something that’s bothering you.”

“No,” Lance smiled sadly, “You haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Then what’s bothering you?” Keith asked, “You know you can tell me anything, we know each other’s biggest secrets.”

“Keith,” Lance spoke up, “Do you ever get sad about it?”

“About the strings?” Keith asked.

“Yeah,” Lance sighed, his shoulders sagging, “Think about it, even Allura and Coran are tied by fate, though their strings are broken.”

“Yeah, ten thousand years in a pod will do that to you…” Keith mumbled under his breath.

“Everyone in my family has a string, all my friends, and all my life I’ve been alone, wondering why I don’t have one.” Lance sounded sad. Not just normal sad though, he sounded distraught, absolutely heartbroken. Keith looked over at Lance, who was looking at the floor, his eyes shiny, “It hurts, knowing that I don’t have a soulmate. I never will…”

“Well,” Keith started to say something but really, he didn’t know what to say. He’s never seen Lance fully, truly on the verge of tears. He wanted to comfort Lance, but he couldn’t form words. Instead, he placed his hand on top of Lance’s and snaked his pinkie to hook Lance’s.

Lance’s skin was soft and warm, man, Keith could hold it forever if Lance would let him. He looked up from his hand, to see that Lance was looking at him, expectantly, eyebrow raised, but cheeks flushed. Keith’s heart started to pound. Damn this boy and his charming looks, under the gaze of those blue eyes Keith wondered how no one has snatched Lance away.

“Maybe since you don’t have a string, that means that you get to choose your soulmate…” Keith said, making it up on the spot, face red and throat dry, hoping that his words were enough to cheer Lance up. Damn, at this point Keith would do anything to make the Cuban boy smile again.

“There’s no one to choose from,” Lance sighed, “Everyone already has soulmates.”

Keith’s breath caught in his throat as his next words mindlessly slipped out:

“I don’t have a soulmate.”

Lance’s eyes grew wide at Keith’s statement, and Keith flushed redder than his lion. What the hell was he thinking, why would he say that, Lance must think he’s joking. But wait, the stars reflected in Lance’s eyes told a different story, they sparkled with life. He wasn’t saying anything, but Keith could read him like a book. 

Keith was right, for a split second he wanted to laugh, but Keith’s eyes, once again shined for him like the milky way, he could see every planet, every moon and star, and he wanted to get close enough to touch them.

“Keith…” The name slipped past Lance’s lips.

Then Keith noticed that Lance was leaning in, and his heart almost stopped.

“I’m sorry,” Keith whispered, and licked his lips in anticipation, watching the gap between them close.

Lance smirked, bringing his hand up and brushing away the fallen black hair away from Keith’s face, watching the galaxies swirl in his dark eyes, “For what?”

“I’m not….” But the words were lost when Lance’s lips touched Keith’s gently. Hot and cold, smooth and wet, soft and gentle. Lance pulled away, and Keith leaned forward, almost begging for another.

“Was that okay?” Lance asked.

Keith was struck speechless, rushing emotion. Lance just kissed him, the boy who could barely introduce himself when they met at the Garrison. Who knew that his lips were so soft, so pleasant to the touch, Keith found himself wanting more, craving more.

“Lance,” Keith whispered, “I found something the other day.”

“What was it?” Lance smiled gently, softly brushing the Keith’s hair back away from his face.

“Can you wait here?” Keith asked, “I’m gonna go run and get it, I’ll be right back.” And he sprinted off.

Lance watched him run, farther and farther away, and he sighed, pushing back his own hair and sighing. Holy crap. He just kissed Keith Kogane, the boy he’s been pining for since they met. The dark and attractive boy that always was in the corner of Lance’s eye. His lips were so rugged, maybe a little chapped, but kissing him felt magical. Lance could finally touch him, feel him, experience him.

He stood up and walked over to the large windows and he stared out into space, seeing all the stars spread out in front of him. Endless unknown constellations.

He turned around when he heard footsteps and saw Keith running back up to him, panting, struggling to catch his breath. 

“Close your eyes.” He said, voice a little hoarse from running. Lance obeyed and he felt Keith take his hand and pull out his pinkie finger, loosely tying a silky fabric around it, “Open.”

Lance opened his eyes and saw that Keith had tied a thin silk ribbon around his pinkie finger. Tears welled up in his eyes. 

“If fate decided that we don’t get soulmates than I say screw fate,” Keith leaned up on his tiptoes and kissed away a tear that ran down Lance’s cheek, “I’m in love with you, I have been since before I even left the Garrison, I just didn’t know how to approach you.”

“Keith,” Lance brought his hand up to cup Keith’s cheek, his thumb gently stroking the pale, almost porcelain skin.

“I didn’t know what to say to you,” Keith said, “You were always surrounded by people, I never knew when I could finally talk to you, talk to you about the red strings.”

“Keith,” Lance said his name again, smiling, watching Keith ramble on.

“And the next thing I knew I got kicked out,” Keith’s voice slowed down, and got softer. He looked up at Lance, who was watching on fondly, a goofy smirk painting his lips, “I was afraid I’d never see you again…”

“Keith,” Lance repeated for the third time.

“Yes?”

“Keith, I love your voice,” Lance said, and the brushed on fluster on Keith’s cheeks deepened, “I love everything about you, down to our shitty attitude and reckless behavior, but for God’s sake, Keith, shut your mouth and kiss me again.”

Keith was struck speechless once again by Lance, but at this point, he couldn’t even get a chance to hesitate. Keith threw his arms around Lance’s neck and crashed his lips against Lance’s. The two almost toppled over, but Lance put one foot back and leaned over Keith, tipping him back as Keith desperately held on, fingers digging into the back of Lance’s jacket.

Keith kissed just like he fought, rough, fast and efficient, his tongue slipping into Lance’s mouth, making Lance almost gasp in surprise, he loved every split second of it, he loved the feel, the warmth, the taste, the sensation of Keith’s nose brushing his cheek as Lance pulled him closer, arms snaking around his hips, urging him closer.

“Lance,” Keith mumbled as Lance’s lips travelled away from his lips to explore other confines of the face.

“Hmm,” Lance mumbled in reply as he started planting sloppy kisses to Keith’s cheek and temple, his closed eyelids and the tip of his nose, then down to a trail along his jawline.

“I don’t ever want to see you cry,” Keith whispered, and Lance planted a kiss on his neck, “Lance, I’ll make you happy.”

“I don’t doubt you,” Lance pulled away and beamed a smile that could brighten a day, “I trust you Keith, you’re my soulmate.”

Taking Keith’s hand in his own, he brought his hand up to his lips and kissed the ribbon tied around Keith’s little finger, and he whispered, sweet words only for his lover, only for Keith, “You gave me what always wanted, you gave me the love I could only feel in my dreams, and for that, I cannot thank you enough.”

_ “I love you.” _

  
  



End file.
